Page 105 of Shifter Situations

She pressed forward, applying more pressure as her eyes held mine with sadistic joy. Her mouth fell open the slightest bit, and Briggs groaned.

“For Devil’s sake,” he snapped. “Both of you need to get it together. We still have shit to do.”

“He’s right,” she rasped as I released her. “It’s time to go. Let’s get the fighting over with so we can pick that back up.”

The playful spirit fell away as she rolled her shoulders back. It was a switch that I’d seen her flip several times in the last few weeks, but the change always caught me by surprise.

Nothing was ever as it seemed, though.

My mate was beautiful and intelligent, wicked and deadly.

My friends were capable and strong, depraved and unstable.

Our neighbor was a stalker disguised as a kind old lady who brought us cookies and checked our mail.

As we walked down the path to the Alpha’s lodge, my thoughts spun around Ms. Annette.

Annette Moore.

The fae-mage we’d assumed was a man because of the misleading letter.

The person who was threatening our mate had been living next door to us for years. She’d been in our apartment. We’d helped her move in new furniture and carry groceries.

Not once had we ever suspected that she was anything other than human.

Novak and I had avoided her at all costs, and we hadn’t been shy about how much she creeped us out. There was never a clear reason as to why we didn’t like her; we just didn’t.

I could think of only one significant thing that had changed in May—before we met Sloane.

We hadn’t seen or interacted with our neighbor in days, if not longer. We’d all been gone; none of us were home at the same time.

I felt like I was overthinking, but I couldn’t disagree with my instincts. It was making me want to question exactly how times Ms. Annette had been inside our apartment. How often had we interacted with her?

I’d been following behind Vaughn, not really seeing where I was going. Bumping into his back brought me out of my thoughts. I glanced around us and immediately loathed the situation.

I also wasn’t happy about being stuck in the throng of people. Especially with so many of them at my back.

The whole ordeal was animalistic, but of course, it was.

They were fucking shifters.

Sloane and Briggs stood in the center of the clearing, uncaring of the gathered crowd. The exterior lighting on the Alpha’s lodge illuminated the area, showing us every face in attendance.

Not all of them were friendly or welcoming.

Briggs glared at the chatting mob, and Sloane wrapped her hands around the back of his neck, pulling his attention to her.

He’d told us how the fights would go. I wasn’t excited about it, but I knew they were both ready.

Charlie King had eight apprentices worldwide. They were the front runners to take the Supreme Alpha position if Sloane decided she didn’t want to take it—or if one of them should beat her.

Seven of the eight had chosen to issue official challenges to the mated pair. Briggs had made it clear to the pack that he stood with Sloane, not against her. His easy dismissal of his right to fight her made some of the other apprentices bristle.

The memory of my kitten calling the wolf out tugged my lips up despite the situation at hand.

As Charlie was planning out the seven-on-two fight, Anna stepped forward from the cluster of people at his right side. She wasted no time issuing her own challenge before the Supreme Alpha could speak.

Novak sighed. “She really has a death wish.”